This invention relates to a constant temperature bath for laboratory use. Heretofore, constant temperature baths for laboratory use have been fabricated from stainless steel. In fact, stainless steel constant temperature baths have been used for years and years in laboratories. In such an arrangement, an outer housing is formed by welding separate side and bottom sheets together and a stainless steel inner tank or liner is disposed within the housing. The space between the inner tank and the outer housing is then filled with an insulation material such as an asbestos/cement compound. A cover is provided having a plurality of apertures formed therein permitting various sized laboratory containers, such as beakers or test tubes to be suspended within the inner tank. Generally, the inner tank is filled with water and a steam pipe is connected through the inner tank and outer housing in order to maintain the water at a constant temperature.
Stainless steel has been felt to be necessary for laboratory use due to its excellent rust resistance, corrosion resistance, acid resistance, as well as for its ability to provide a fairly rigid structural unit. However, the stainless steel elements must be fabricated separately and welded together to form the assembly. This fabrication and assembling technique is time consuming due to the separate steps involved and due to the difficulty of welding stainless steel. Also, an insulation material must be inserted between the inner and outer walls of the bath assembly. If an asbestos/cement compound is employed, it may be difficult to insure that the space between the inner tank and outer housing is completely and uniformly filled with the insulating material.
It can therefore be seen that while the prior art constant temperature laboratory baths have been acceptable for use under laboratory conditions, inherent difficulties arising from the manufacturing process present numerous quality control problems, as well as relatively high initial costs.